


picking our way through the wreckage

by fruitycutie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, One Shot, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26141962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruitycutie/pseuds/fruitycutie
Summary: Pre - canon. One possible start to the remaining Lovegoods' life without Pandora.
Relationships: Luna Lovegood & Xenophilius Lovegood
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	picking our way through the wreckage

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Neither Luna nor Xenophilius Lovegood are characters of my own - they remain solely a product of Rowling's literary creations.
> 
> Feedback much appreciated! This is the first fic I have ever posted, please do let me know what you think x

He came to on the seventh day after her passing. He returned unwillingly, wanting desperately to remain buried deep in the dark pool of his grief, eyes and lungs burning, with no care or knowledge of the world continuing outside of those murky depths. But something had shocked him from his stupor. He blinked; for the first time in that long and terrible week, became aware of what was in front of him. 

“I made your favourite, Daddy.” said the little girl who he had been failing all week. This, too, he had been hiding from. Realising this made him burn in a different way; fresh tears replaced those stale ones which had been watering his face and dry, chapped lips.

“Luna.” He croaked out. It had been a while since any words had escaped from his throat. Wide, silvery eyes that matched his own so well gazed at his stricken face. He could not look back at her for long; he felt himself being dragged into a bottomless pit of self-loathing. Instead he turned his attention to the source of the acrid stench which had pierced through the fog he’d been hiding in. There in front of him sat a tall and leaning stack of pancakes – though they were charred and foul-smelling, and barely recognisable for what they were. But she had made him breakfast, his darling daughter who he had senselessly forgotten for a while. Weakly he moved the tray to the side, almost upending a phial which had been over-filled with cherry syrup. He crushed Luna to him and felt his heart flame up with more love and sorrow than was bearable. Luna's small face rested on his shoulder, and little hands patted at his arm and back. 

“It’s alright, Daddy.” She whispered. Her voice only trembled a little. Xenophilius tightened his arms around her and forced more words past the boulder in his throat. “I’m sorry, my love. I will not do that to you again. I should not have left you so alone…” And again he wept, but this time he remembered that his tears were not lonely ones. Luna cried silently against him, and though he did not hear a sound leave her mouth, he felt every drop of water that fell on his neck as if it were a brand, scorching him cruelly. 

When his own private storm had receded a little, he saw from the corner of his eye the tray that Luna had brought up for him. Alongside the plate and cutlery and cherry syrup she had laid a pair of smiling daffodils. Yellow narcissus - winter’s end. Xenopihilius Lovegood reached for them and vowed to never again put himself before his daughter.


End file.
